Black History & Culture
Each year Canadians are invited to take part in the festivities and events that honour the legacy of
Black Canadians, past and present, during Black History Month. This is a time to celebrate the
many achievements and contributions of Black Canadians, who, throughout history, have done so
much to make Canada the culturally diverse, compassionate and prosperous nation we know today.
It is also an opportunity for the majority of Canadians to learn about the experiences of Black
Canadians in our society, and the vital role this community has played throughout our shared
history.
Online Databases
Modern World History Online
YCDSB Student Resources
Web Sites
Government of Canada
http://collections.ic.gc.ca/obho/
Ontario Black History Society
http://www.blackhistorysociety.ca/
Facts
http://www.blackfacts.com/
Black History Video
http://www.history.com ( search media/ Black History)
Official Canadain Site
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/multiculturalism/index.asp
Underground Railroad
http://collections.ic.gc.ca/freedom/
Black History Canada
http://blackhistorycanada.ca/
CBC Archives
http://archives.cbc.ca/ (search Black History)
Black History & Culture
Print Resources
Additional resources can be searched through Web OPAC
Autobiography
Beals, Melba Patillo. Warriors Don't Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little
Rock's Central High. Archway Paperbacks, 1995
Brown, Rosemary. Being Brown: A Very Public Life. Toronto: Ballantine Books, 1990.
Gates, Henry Louis, ed. Four Classic Slave Narratives. New York: Signet Classics, 2002.
Johnson, Earvin. Magic Johnson: My Life. Random House, 1992
Obama, Barack. Dreams From my Father. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2004.
Poitier, Sydney. The Measure of a Man. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2000.
X, Malcolm. The Autobiography of Malcolm X. New York: Ballantine Books, 1992.
Novels
Clarke, Austin. In This City. Toronto: Exile Editions, 2008.
Danticat, Edwidge. Breath, Eyes, Memory. New York: Vintage Books, 1998 (1994).
Gaines, Ernest. A Lesson Before Dying. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1993
Hill, Lawrence. The Book of Negroes. Toronto: Harper Collins, 2007.
Philip, Marlene Nourbese. Harriet’s Daughter. Toronto: The Women’s Press, 1988.
Morrison, Toni. The Bluest Eye. New York, Penguin Books, 1994.
---. Song of Solomon. New York: Knopf, 1995.
Walker, Alice. The Color Purple. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1992.
Black History & Culture
Poetry
Angelou, Maya. And Still I Rise. New York: Random House, 2001.
Franco, Betsy, ed. Things I Have to Tell You: Poems and Writings by Teenage Girls.
Massachusetts: Candlewick Press, 2001.
---. You Hear me? Poems and Writings by Teenage Boys. Massachusetts: Candlewick
Press, 2001.
Shakur, Tupac. The Rose that Grew From Concrete. Simon and Schuster, 2009.
Non-Fiction
Bristow, Peggy, et al. We're rooted Here and They Can't Pull us up: Essays in African Canadian
Women's History. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1994.
Cooper, Afua. The Hanging of Angélique: The Untold Story of Canadian Slavery and the
Burning of Old Montreal. Toronto: HarperCollins, 2006.
Foster, Cecil. A Place Called Heaven: The Meaning of Being Black in Canada. Toronto:
HarperCollins, 1996.
King, Martin Luther, Jr. A Call to Conscience: The Landmark Speeches of Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr. New York: IPM and Warner Books, 2001.
Mensah, Joseph. Black Canadians: History, Experience, Social Conditions.
Prince, Bryan. A Shadow on the Household: One Enslaved Family’s Incredible Struggle for
Freedom. Toronto: McClennand and Stewart, 2009.
Roy, Lynette. Three Caribbean Women in Canadian Politics. Toronto: University of Toronto
Press, 2000.
Shadd, Adrienne, Karolyn Smardz-Frost and Afua Cooper. The Underground Railroad Next
Stop, Toronto! Toronto: National Heritage Books, 2002.